Nearly 1,200 Iranian factories revived in one year, over 21k jobs created

Nearly 1,200 Iranian factories have been turned around in one year to create over 21,000 jobs.

Iran’s ministry of industries (MIMT) says hundreds of ailing or closed factories have been revived over the past calendar year as the government seeks to diversify the economy away from oil and create more jobs in the country.

A deputy minister at the MIMT said on Sunday that a total of 1,185 manufacturing units had been turned around in the year ending March 19, 2020 in Iran.

Asqar Masahab said that those factories were either closed or had been working with the minimum capacity for many years.

“Reviving these units have led to direct employment for 21,618 people,” said Masahab, adding that many of those factories had been grappling with various problems related to cash flow and investment, technology, marketing and disputes between the owners.

He said the MIMT had set up special taskforces in the Iranian provinces to help resuscitate the ailing manufacturing units by supporting them through banking and insurance problems.

Iran has seen a rebound in manufacturing over the past two years mainly because a series of American sanctions have led to lower imports and a growing demand for home-made products.

The growth in production, especially in government-run companies, has also boosted the exports and created new sources of hard currency for the country.

Iran’s customs office said on Sunday that exports from the country excluding the sale of oil over the past calendar year had increased by 13 percent in volume terms to reach nearly 1434 million metric tons.

The total value of non-crude exports from Iran in the year ending in late March topped $41.3 billion, said the customs office.

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